How To Record Calls On An iPhone [No Jailbreak Required]

Apple has gone to serious lengths to make sure the privacy of your calls is guaranteed. For example, it won’t allow you to record calls, either via any of its own apps or any third-party ones. You’ll also notice that there aren’t many apps which suggest they can record calls in the App Store. However, there is a way for you to do it.

Those who have a jailbroken iPhone have been able to record calls for quite some time. However, if going down the road of compromising the security of your device isn’t for you, luckily a simple solution has been discovered.

Recording via voicemail

It comes as a surprise to many when they first hear about this, but you really don’t need a jailbreak or any other app to record calls on your iPhone. In fact, this could be something of a workaround that Apple itself has failed to realize is possible. It uses your voicemail, and the interesting thing about it is that there is nothing that Apple can do to stop you. So read on and learn how to record calls via your iPhone.

Important information

In this tutorial, we’re going to show you how to use your carrier’s voicemail as a way to record calls. Then we’ll show you how to export that recording via your handset’s voicemail.

Before you follow the steps below, there are a few things you must know. To start with, your carrier must support Visual Voicemail and Three-way calling, and you must have your handset connected to a cellular data network. Additionally, you should disable call waiting. To do this, go to Settings –> Phone –> Call Waiting.

You may run into some other issues while trying to record calls, such as the size of your Visual Voicemail inbox, the duration an individual message, etc. However, none of these issues will prevent you from being able to record calls.

Finally, your iPhone should be running on iOS 9.0 or later; this is due to earlier versions not being able to export voice memos.

How to record calls

Now that you have read the important information above, it is time to move on to how to do the recording. Please follow the instructions below to the letter.

Open the phone app on your iPhone and choose someone to call.

When you have connected to the call, tap Add Call. This is the “+” sign on the phone’s app screen.

Next, call your own number; doing so will take you straight to voicemail because you’re already on a call.

When you have finished listening to the greeting message and the Visual Voicemail has begun, tap theMerge Callsicon. It can be found on the calling screen. This will now merge your first call with the second one, meaning that you can record calls directly to your voicemail.

Once you think you’ve recorded enough, end the call and then tap the Voicemail tab in your handset’s phone app. You may have to wait a minute or two until your recording appears. You need to be connected to your carrier’s cellular data network to see the voicemail.

You can now download recorded calls, so tap the one you just made and tap the Share button.

Your choices now are to send it wirelessly as an audio file to a Mac via Airdrop; attach it to an email or iMessage; send it to notes; or share it via an app. Additionally, you can share it via the stock voice memos app for editing at a later date. No matter what you decide to do with it right now, you can record calls whenever you want.

And that’s it; you have everything you need. However, there are a couple of extra pieces of information worth sharing.

This method to record calls will record high-def calls in standard definition.

As standard, your voicemails are delivered in the M4A format; you may have to convert them to MP3 for use in other apps.

In some countries and U.S. states, it is illegal to record phone calls without the other party consenting.

Author: Darren WallDarren is a proud father of two and a dedicated mobile technology writer from the UK. He's been writing about all things mobile, wearable, apps and anything else tech related for many years now for various sites all over the world.